I'm not counting this homerun or his 3 RBI from today's game because of the game situation. I'm not counting his pinch hit solo homerun in a blowout win in Colorado. In my book, Crede has 2 less home runs than his statistics show, 4 less RBI, and one less walk (the one where he pinch hit for Uribe after coming in with a 3-0 count and taking one pitch).

I don't follow the draft like you guys, but let's not go crazy dogging the Sox. We're getting more production from the last few drafts than any other team in baseball. Sale=top of the line stud. Reed=stud. Beckham=decent player, potential stud. Mitchell=huge setback with good upside. I'm an optimist though.

As am I. He had a rough May, but seemed to be turning the corner at the end of the month and turned it into a good June. His defense is already very good and he's the fastest, now that his ankle is healthy. He might be second in best athlete to Hawkins now, but I think we will be seeing Mitchell around 2014 or late 2013.

As am I. He had a rough May, but seemed to be turning the corner at the end of the month and turned it into a good June. His defense is already very good and he's the fastest, now that his ankle is healthy. He might be second in best athlete to Hawkins now, but I think we will be seeing Mitchell around 2014 or late 2013.

Walker's probably the best athlete, but might not be very good at baseball.

I'm not a draftologist by any means, so there may be good reasons when teams, including the Sox, do this, but it really bothers me that they took this guy so high in the draft. Did they really think that he would not be available in the 2nd or 3rd round? Why not take the best player available? Isn't that what the draft is supposed to be about? If signability is a problem, then take the best signable player available. You can still get Barnum with a later pick.

From everything I've read here and elsewhere, they could have probably waited 20 more rounds to draft Kenny Jr. How many solid future and maybe current major leaguers, who were signable, did they pass on to draft his kid when they could have easily still drafted him later? He'd still be in the system, and nothing would be different than now except the Sox might have an actual contributor.

__________________
What is Mind? -- Doesn't Matter!
What is Matter? -- Never Mind!
-Homer Simpson

"No question if they make enough contact, they’re going to hit a bunch of home runs. You really don’t want those type of kids to sacrifice their power in order to have a two-strike approach to where you’re going to sacrifice a little bit of power." (Sox scouting director Doug Laumann)

#1 - While he's ahead of all the other SP draftees now, he only projects to a #2 or 3 starter. Good fastball, but straight. Not even close to potential of the recent first pick starters the last few drafts.

#2 - Boras wants to test the new slot system. So if a team has $6M allocated for it's first 7-8 picks, he'll want the majority of the allocated $6M for Appel to sign, leaving either very little money to sign the drafting team's other picks or forcing them to go over the $6M cap to sign the team's draftees - which forfeits future picks.

I don't know much about Keon at all, but MLBTV compared his upside to Ryan Howard...so I would say that qualifies. He has a LONG way to go to get there but he's a left handed bat with power. Let's not act like he's hit his ceiling. FWIW the pick a few slots earlier was compared to Scott Podsednik...now that is a safe pick.

Anything can happen with prospects, but lets not fool ourselves. Those player comparisons and those guys know NOTHING about prospects. The guys on the big board and top available are the ones that do. Harold Reynolds is the MLBTV version of Chris Berman.

Ryan Howard came into the draft at 40 OBP 70 Power, Keon is a 30-60. Keon does play better defense, but it isn't like that is a game changer for 1st round 1st base talent.

The actual player comparisons they use on the screen, they compared a guy who hit 7 home runs in high school to Juan Pierre. That is how much of a joke those are.

If you want to admit Keon was picked to give them more financial flexibility for Hawkins, I can live with that. But Keon was picked with the White Sox strategy of taking guys a round or 2 early and signing them at slot or less and not a round late and paying over slot.

That is insane. Hawkins>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Mitchell in terms of potential. Mitchell is still about 25/75 to ever make it to the big leagues, maybe a little better. Hawkins has twice the potential Mitchell does.